Spanning Tree Protocols (STPs) offer numerous known advantages regarding the management of loop-free layer-2 network topologies. The Multiple Spanning Tree (MST) protocol is an enhanced STP that allows for a plurality of “instances,” where each instance has its own network topology. Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) may then be mapped to a particular instance (a “VLAN-to-Instance” or “VI” mapping, e.g., manually configured), and all bridges/switches that share that VI mapping are considered to be within the same “region.” To change the configuration of a region, such as changing the VI mapping within the region, a system administrator may either manually visit each switch one at a time to reconfigure the mapping (during a scheduled maintenance window without network traffic to avoid looping, blackholing, or other errors), or may employ the use of a configuration distribution protocol that advertises the new VI mapping to each switch of the region. Currently, any changes to the MST VI mapping causes a restart of the entire MST protocol (the MST process at each switch), causing traffic disruption on all of the VLANs in the region, even where only a few of the VLANs have been remapped.